Scintillating sign



A. F. BATTAGLIA SCINTILLATING SIGN Filed Jan. 8, 1958 Jan. 31, 1961 INVENTOR ATTORNEY ANGLO F. ArrAeL/A United States Patent O SCINTILLATING SIGN Angelo F. Battaglia, 1703 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Filed Jan. 8, 1958, Ser. No. 707,758

Claims. (Cl. 40138) 'Ihe invention relates to improvements in scintillating sign assemblies having la Wafer-like disk mounted on a specially formed nail to facilitate unrestrained motion of the disk in all directions for increasing the angle of reflectivity of the assemblies, and has particular reference to an improved light-reflecting sign having discrete assemblies, -a portion which vibrates while another portion thereof is utilized as a support which may simply be constructed and installed to form a'sign, and which may as easily have the vibrating portion of the assembly removed from the sign for cleaning or for replacement by vibrating portions of different characteristics such as size, color, etc.

This application is a continuation-impart of my copending application Serial No. 583,124, tiled May 7, 1956, now Patent No. 2,912,778 issued November l1, 1959.

There are, in the prior art, various form o f scintillating signs comprising a plurality of elements or spangles to form a display surface. The spangles are generally supported from a surface so that they are individually, separately and completely movable about a point on their support land result in achieving a rippling light-play eiect when the spangles are subjected to -a slight breeze.

After the prior art devices have been in use for an extended period of time subjected to various forms of weather conditions and various types of dirt and grime found in industrial yor commercial areas of towns and cities as well as those found along highways, it is found that the prior art devices become dirty and require to be cleaned.

The present-day scintillating signs necessitate a ditiicult and expensive operation to wash and clean the individual spangles of the signs, since they are dicult to remove and replace without breaking.

The new scintillating sign` assembly provides for a scintillating element having a short slit to facilitate the removal thereof from its `supporting means so that it can readily be removed or detached from the mount and washed before being replaced or re-attached to the mount without having to position new mounts, pins or other type fasteners for the discs. Also it is obvious that new and different colored discs may be assembled onto the mounts.

Accordingly, therefore, the present invention is directed to a scintillating sign constructed of a specially formed nail having cut therein Ka slice forming a stop for a sleeve mounted on the nail for maintaining the head of the nail sufficiently away from a mounting wall. A bend is made in the nail near the head thereof causing the scintillating disc to rest in the concavity so that the disc is prevented from sticking to the sleeve or the mounting Wall. The disc is constructed so that not only is there an opening for the nail to extend through, but there is a cut iiap adjacent thereto 'for enlarging the opening when the flap is depressed for the head of the nail to pass therethrough, and for locking the disc on Patented Jan. 3l, 1961 ICC the concave portion of the nail when the cut ap is released or pushed back into its original position.

In performing the operation of installing the specially formed nail, applicant has developed a new tool for driving the specially formed nail into predetermined depths of a Wall constructed of boards, plywood, etc., without striking the head thereof, thereby eliminating any action of striking the head which would cause the concave and bent end of the nail to be distorted or broken. The tool enables the fabrication of large letters with facility as Well `as enabling the maintenance and replacement `of moving parts of the sign without withdrawing the nail. The tool is further described and claimed in a copending application to be led shortly, having Serial Number 583,124 tiled May 7, 1956.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from a detailed description of the invention and from the appended drawings and claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevational View of a sign embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of a portion of the sign taken along lines 2-2 of Fig. 1 and showing a spangle or disc having a flap and mounted on a concavely bent nail in accordance with the teaching of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the disc shown in Fig. 2 and also showing in dottedline the position of the disc as it is slipped over the nail head with the ap in deflected position;

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of a nail supporting a disc in which the head of the nail is elongated in the horizontal direction;

Fig. 5 is a front elevational view of the type of nail shown in Fig. 4, and showing also in dotted lines, the manner in which the disc is tted over the horizontally disposed head of the nail; and

Fig. 6 is a different species of a nail within the scope of the invention having a projection to limit the distance Which the nail may pass into the Wall material.

With more particular reference now to the iigures, a basic mechanical embodiment of the features of the invention is illustrated in which Fig l shows a scintillating sign 10 consisting of spangles or discs 12 having the reeoting surface thereof exposed. The discs are shown as being supported from nails 14 which may be made of aluminum for its weather-proof characteristic. One such nail and pendent disc is sho-wn in Fig. 2 and 3, wherein 1 the nail has -an enlarged head in the vertical or substantially vertical direction. The nail 14 is positioned in a wall 16 constructed of such material as wood, plywood, etc., having a surface 18 parallel to the disc 12. Mounted on the nail 14 and positioned adjacent to the Wall surface 18 is a neoprene or rubber sleeve 20 serving to constrain the pendent disc away from the wall.

A modification of the nail without using the sleeve 20 is shown in Fig. 6 wherein the nail is cut at an angle near a concave segment 22 of the nail. The cut forms a projection 24 serving the same function as the sleeve and also serving to stop the nail from being driven too far into the wall.

A bend in the nail shown at 22 is located between the head 26 or 28 of the nail and the sleeve 20 or projection 24. The bend 22 causes the disc to fall in the concavity thereby preventing the disc from sticking to the sleeve or projection, and allow unrestrained or freer motion of the disc as it scintillates in the breeze.

The nail head may be either horizontally disposed as shown by head 26, or vertically disposed as shown by head 28.

The constructionof the spangles or discs 12 is such that a rectangular opening 30 for mounting or suspending the disc is provided in a non-centric position on the Smface of the dise, and preferable, the opening 30 is positioned near to the periphery of the disc surface.

In order that the disc may be placed upon and over the head 26, 28 of the nail and remain thereon in a lockedl position, a ap 32 is formed by at least two cuts 34, 36 which extend fromthe opening toward a more central position, for a distance when combined with the addi tional length or diameter of the opening 30 will amount to be slightly in excess of the maximum length of the enlarged head. The Hap or cut-flap 32 as shown in Fig. 2 is then depressed or deflected to a degree by the lingers which will permit the nail head 26 or 28 to pass through. After the head is passed through the extended opening 30, the cut-flap 32 is pushed back to its original position, or if the disc is constructed of resilient material, it is allowed to return to its original coniguration before deflection. With the cut-ilap in its original position the'disc is locked onto the nail, not being in a position to be displaced from the nail unless the cut-flap is distended or deected sufficiently to permit removal of the disc from the nail.

The use of the invention provides for assembling a plurality of these discs upon their nails so that a composite figure is obtained such as that in Fig. 1.

=One of the more specic advantages of the apparatus resides in the disc of resilient material so that the cut-ap may readily return substantially to its original position. In this respect the several spangles or discs may be readily removed from the nails on the wall material, subjected to a Specified operation such as Washing, cleaning, painting or repainting with a luminescent material, replacing with different colored discs, and thereafter re-positioned onto the concavity section of the nails, and forming a composite figure.

It should be understood, however, that the speciic apparatus herein illustrated and described is intended to be representative only, as there are many changes that may be made therein Without departing from the clear teachings of the invention. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following claims in `determining the full `and complete scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A scintillating sign assembly for mounting upon a Wall surface comprising a disc with reflecting front and rear surfaces thereof and having `a non-circular opening in a non-centric portion thereof, a cut-ap consisting of two substantially parallel slits extending away from the opening and contiguous therewith so that the cut-iiap may be deflected out of the plane of the said surfaces for thereby enlarging the substantial size of the opening, and a nail having a head that substantially fits through the said enlarged opening.

2. A scintillating sign assembly as claimed in claim l in which a nail is provided having an enlarged head in an oriented direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the nail and in which said nail is bent away from the longitudinal axis at a portion near the enlarged head for hanging the installed disc.

3. A scintillating sign assembly as claimed in claim 2 in which the nail includes an offstanding portion extending out from the longitudinal axis of the nail beyond the normal plane of said nail.

4. A scintillating sign assembly as claimed in claim 2 in which the nail is provided with a neoprene sleeve be tween the bent portion of the nail and the wall surface thereby preventing said disc from oscillatory engagement with the wall surface.

5. A scintillating sign assembly mounted upon a Wall surface comprising a plurality of reflecting spangles with front and rear surfaces each having a non-circular opening therethrough near the periphery of the surface thereof, deflectable means on each spandle for forming a ap, said means including two slits from the opening along the front and rear surface in a substantially parallel relation to each other so that the deilectable means may be deflected outwardly from either the front or rear surface for enlarging the elective Size of the opening.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 770,931 Seary et al. Sept. 27, 1904 2,795,070 Touche June 1l, 19,57

, FOREGN PATENTS 3,846 Great Britain Jan. 27, 1900 521,538 Belgium Aug. 14, 1953 538,193 Italy Jan. 18, 1956 

